‘Mom’ Star Sadie Calvano on Monday’s ‘Controversial’ Episode

Spoiler alert: Do not read this story if you don’t want to know what happens on Monday night’s episode of “Mom.” Seriously, the sole purpose of this piece is to discuss what occurs on the next episode of “Mom.” If, knowing all this, you still decide to read this story and then complain about spoilers, you might as well just go outside and walk into traffic, because there’s no helping you.

CBS’s “Mom” takes a turn for the serious this week, when Violet — the pregnant teenage daughter of Anna Faris‘ Christy — decides that she wants to give up her baby for adoption. TheWrap spoke to Sadie Calvano, who plays Violet, about the episode — and the flash-forward, prosthetics-happy scene that imagines what life would be like if she keeps the baby.

TheWrap: Was there discussion beforehand about the episode’s plot, or did you pick up the script and discover, “Oh, I’m giving up my baby”?

Sadie Calvano: I picked up the script and said, “Oh, I’m giving away my baby.” I find out what’s going on with Violet and everyone week by week. I find out as we go, I just happen to know a couple of weeks before everyone else does.

Was there any kind of debate about what the fate of the child would be?

Everyone was so, so serious, especially me. While we have been shooting Violet’s pregnancy, everyone was wondering, “What’s gonna happen with the baby”? When I read the script and found out that she was considering adoption, I was so excited to find out what she was thinking. But adoption is a controversial topic. And so I’m really excited to see how everyone is going to react to it after Monday’s episode.

Was there discussion about whether some people will have an issue with the topic?

Yeah, but I think the show’s getting to be known for really pushing the envelope and talking about really controversial topics. We’re a show about alcoholics and teen pregnancy. By no means are these topics that aren’t controversial.

At one point in the episode, Violet says that she doesn’t want to give the baby to her boyfriend Luke’s parents, because they’re Christian and conservative, but later in the episode she’s considering a gay couple as candidates for adoption.

I think that especially because of how Luke was brought up, it’s unavoidable that it’s gonna require a big, big discussion between Violet and Luke regarding this child and adoption. That’s definitely something that you’re going to see unravel.

What was it like to film the flash-forward scene with Alison and Anna, with the prosthetics?

It was crazy. I spent about two hours getting ready in prosthetics that morning. It was so crazy; all three of us looked in the mirror after were done, and it was like looking at new people. It was unbelievable. It was hard to keep a straight face, for sure, but so much fun. It was a day of silly, and crazy, crazy, craziness, But we had so much fun.